Caution and a consideration appear to Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees’ approach to the Bristol Arena project.

The 45-year-old has said the council won’t make a final decision on the location to the project until April – three months after the deadline he set in November and nine after an initial ‘value for money’ investigation was launched.

“It has to be right, act in haste, regret at leisure,” he said. “We really want to make sure we are on top of the finances of the arena and on top of what it is going to maximise the economic impact for the city region, in relationship to the arena itself, and what the benefits are of alternative uses of the various sites.

“I would love this to have been started yesterday, I would love this to have been started a year ago. I have made a commitment to get it done and I am in the public domain and there is no motivation for it not happening.”

The council has now officially acknowledged the former Brabazon hangar at Filton airfield as a site of interest for the 12,000-seater venue in its latest cabinet report, alongside the existing ‘Arena Island’ land on Temple Quay.

The Bristol Arena site near Temple Meads station, also known as Arena Island, as it looked in October 2016. (Image: Dan Regan)

The authority has spent more than £9 million on the city centre site, and has planned a whole enterprise zone, university campus, housing development and retail space on the land, with the arena intended to be the jewel in the crown.

Although practically on top of the South Gloucestershire boundary, the Filton site offers the attractive prospect of being privately funded – potentially saving the council upwards of £70m.

The latest cabinet report neatly states more work to set out the pros and cons of each option will now be undertaken, and Mr Rees has himself admitted both have their own drawbacks and merits.

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He told the Bristol Post a venue on Arena Island would bring “real momentum” to the city centre, but “transport and affordability” present concerns.

He listed private funding and “transport connectivity” as positives for the Filton site and rejected the idea that the hangar was too far out from the city centre.

The Brabazon hangar at Filton Airfield (Image: Google)

But the Mayor has remained tight-lipped on his preference and said he and the council are “genuinely” keeping an open mind over the locations, until the review is complete.

“We are saying we are open and we will be able to come back with some real certainty in April, when the process is finished,” he said. “It is about not being dogmatic, it is about what does the evidence tell us in terms of the affordability of the arena itself.

“We just want to make sure we are looking at all of the options around the arena before we commit Bristol to a 60 or 70 year relationship.”

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Mr Rees denied reports that contractors Buckingham Group have offered to build the area in Temple Quarter for a set sum, within budget, but said an amount had been put to the council which “is open to movement, according to the level of risk”.

He revealed the report will assess what the impact of using Arena Island for other developments such as housing, shops and a hotel might be.

An artist's impression of Bristol Arena

He also stated that the arena was not being looked at “in isolation” and is instead being lined up alongside other capital projects – a sizable hint that MetroBus and the underground Metro will be taken into consideration when the final decision is made.

One thing is certain, it will be several years yet before the doors to an arena for Bristol will be open.